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PD DR. Hans Gerald Hödl, University of Vienna, Faculty of Catholic Theology, Institute for the Study of Religions Afro-American Religions. Introductory Course. Overview & focussing on afro- Caribbean Religion (Santería, Vodun, Shango, Spiritual Baptists, Rastafarianism) Course given at the University of Szeged (October/November 2004) and at the Masaryk- University of Brno (March/April 2006) Attention: This text was written with the only aim of providing material for the students who have attended this course in order to prepare for the exam. It does not meet the standards of a text ready to be published. There is a bibliography at the end of the text, but there are no footnotes to tell which passages of these books and essays have been worked into this text or cited. Furthermore, the chapter on the history of Santería has been explained in the lecture given at Brno in more detail, as some other chapters, too. For that, please consult the PPP of the lecture, also featured at the network of Masaryk-University. Nevertheless, the exam will only cover data featured in this course-book. For pictures of objects related to the cult, maps and the like please also consult the PPP. 0. Introduction, Overview This course deals with Afro-American Religions. These are religions that have developed in the Americas among the (descendants of the) slaves brought from Africa to the Americas. One can roughly distinguish five groups: 1. Religions that have preserved and transformed the autochthonous African religions, mainly of West African (Gold & Ivory Coast), but also of Central African origin (Bantu- traditions). 2. Christian Churches or denominations characterised by elements of African spirituality („Black Churches“) 3. Religious-political movements (many of them sharing a millenarian worldview or a „Back-to-Africa“ – approach). 4. Specific forms of Catholicism amongst the Afro-American people (Black Catholicism) 5. Specific forms of Islam among these people (Black Muslims). The course will give a short overview on history and development of these religious movements and focus mainly on the first form, also getting a short grip on group #2 & 3. Geographically, according to the circumstances of transatlantic slave trade there have been 2 main places of origin of Afro-American religions with a strong foundation in the African heritage (group #1), Bahia in Brazil and the Caribbean islands. Nowadays these religions (the main ones being Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil, Vodun and Santería on the West Indian islands) have not only spread all over the Americas, but have also found adepts in other parts of the world. This process brings with it a vivid development of cultural transformation. The course will give an introduction to this field of study in 4 parts: 1) Overview on the history of the transatlantic slave trade and the history of preserving and transforming the West-African heritage under the circumstances of slavery in the Caribbean. Hödl, Introductory Course to Afro-American Religions in the Caribbean 1 2) Worldview and ritual in Cuban Santería (regla ocha) compared to traditions of the Yorùbá in West-Africa, which this religion stems from. 3) Worldview and ritual among the followers of Haitian Vodu (Voodoo), compared to Ewe and Fon traditions of West Africa, which are the main sources for this religion (religious cults). Short description of the other religions mentioned. 4) Material culture and „syncretism“: systematic interpretation of cultural change; evaluation of the theories brought forth by diverse scholars seeking to explain the role of Christian elements in Afro-American religions. 1. The transatlantic slave-trade. 1.1. A few sketches of West-African History 1.1.1. Overview on early history of West-Africa West-Africa is, amongst others, one of the places in Africa, where rich cultural traditions have developed long before there was contact with European conquerors. It is said to be one of the seven places on earth, where urban culture has developed on its own, without being stimulated by contact from already existing urban cultures. In other words, the West-Africans managed the transformation of pre-urban society to urban society. According to Paul Wheatly (cited by Davíd Carrasco), the seven places where we can find primary urban generation, are China, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, West-Africa (the place, where we find Nigeria on the maps of our time), the Andes (the place of today’s Peru) and Mesoamerica (México). One remarkable feature of this basic kind of cultural transformation lies in the fact, that in each of the places we find important ritual and religious centres, such as temples, pagodas, pyramids, shrines or other forms of religious places separated from everyday world. Normally, we define cultural progress in terms of techniques of civilisation. Therefore, we divide, according to the use of tools, the cultural history of mankind into stone-age (kókorszak), bronze-age ((bronzekor) and iron-age (vaskorszak); in different parts of the world the techniques of using tools made out of stone or produced by the method of melting metal and shaping it into different forms, apt for special purposes like cultivating the land, have developed in different times. Special achievements of culture and civilisation are said to be linked to these periods. For example, according to Gordon Childe, in late stone age, the period called Neolithicum in Latin (literally meaning: new stone age, but, what one would call “old” stone age is called “early stone age in English), the so called Neolithic revolution took place. This cultural turn consisted in the establishing of settlements linked to the new cultural technique of raising plants systematically, making the step from hunting and gathering to cultivating the land. Because iron is a relatively hard metal, the invention of iron tools brings with it a progress in cultivation and, on the other hand, in making arms. Therefore, in many societies, we can find myths concerning cultural heroes who are considered as the inventors of Hödl, Introductory Course to Afro-American Religions in the Caribbean 2 the techniques of forging iron and become Gods of iron, like it is the case in West-African religion. We will talk about that later. In many cultures, smiths are considered as somewhat holy or magic persons for that reason. There is a book by Mircea Eliade on this theme [Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, second edition, 1978)]. Be that as it may, for the sake of the radiocarbon method of dating finds, we do know nowadays, that the West−African iron-age dates around 700-500 bc. (and not as late as 300 bc., which was the old dating). And, if that is right, it cannot be the case, that it has been stimulated by the East-African iron age of Meroe, but has to be looked at as a development of its own. The first iron-age-culture of the West-African region is called “Nok-culture”, named after a little village in the central part of Nigeria. It is famous for the finds of little terracotta figures, that show human faces in a significant style. It is also important for our field of study, since there are suggestions, that Yorùbá culture may have been influenced by Nok-culture. During the first millennium a.c. urban development took place in West−Africa, kingdoms where founded and later, through Trans-Saharan trading after 700 a.c. relatively stable contact with Muslim culture and religion was to be established. In this context, the kingdoms of Gana, Mali and Songhay have to be mentioned. There had been contact across the Sahara long before that time, as we know from rock-paintings found in the Saharan desert, showing horses and carriages. It has to be mentioned here, that the Saharan desert has grown since the 3rd millennium b. c. We also know about contact with Sub-Saharan Africa from the time of Old Egypt, where accounts had been made on expeditions to the Yams-country (Yams is an African nodule, similar to the potato; it has been cultivated in Africa since the days of old). Trade with Sub-Saharan Africa centred around the exchange of salt, brought by Northern traders for gold, which is abundant in West-Africa and plays the main role in the trading connections with West-Africa during the first millennium a.c. We know about gold coins made out of West-African gold from around 200 a. c. Trade-routes lead from North-Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt) to the first African kingdoms Ghana and Mali. The older one of these two, Gana, can be traced back to 300 a. c., approximately. 1.1.2. The kingdom of Gana In the Tariq-As-Sudan, an Arab history-book, which was written around 1650 in Timbuktu, 22 emperors of Gana are mentioned before Muslim times and 22 after the beginning of the Muslim calendar. If that was right, we could trace the kingdom of Gana back to 300 a. c. The Hödl, Introductory Course to Afro-American Religions in the Caribbean 3 kingdom of Gana first is mentioned in historical sources in the year 773. It was founded by the Soninke, a people speaking a language of the Mande-group of the Niger-Kongo languages. One of the main reasons for coming into existence for that kingdom may have been trade with Berbers. Gana is the title of the kings of that kingdom, which was named Wagadu by it’s inhabitants. The King was in charge of exerting control over trade, but he was also looked at as the representative of the ancestors, being the religious leader of his people. Al Bakri, a Spanish Arab, gives a description of the Gana Tunka Manin in the year of 1065.
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